Dugald Macdonald played rugby for Western Province between 1972 and 1975 and was capped for the Springboks against the British Lions in 1974. He went on to play in Europe for the Parma Rugby Club (Italy), for Oxford University (UK) and for Stade Toulousa (France).
In 2001 he completed a 5000 kilometre rowing trip in 74 days crossing the Atlantic, from the Canary Islands to Barbados. Four years later he trekked to the North Magnetic Pole.
In 2018 he released a documentary, the Blindside, about the controversial 1974 boycott-breaking British Lions Tour to South Africa where they played against the Springbok rugby team, and released his first book Ja-Nee: The Story Beyond the Game in 2021 to critical acclaim.
